SF/Arts Curator Insight

Though fabled Mills College is no more, the art museum and many of the talented artists nurtured there live on. Before her 2021 death, Hung Liu, one of the school’s most beloved professors, began organizing an exhibition of a handful of artists she mentored during her 20-year tenure. The result is a must-see blockbuster that really should hit the road as a fitting tribute to the legacy of both teacher and institution. And as a reminder of what is lost to culture when innovative art programs disappear. Around every corner are surprises and delights, inventive forms and informative juxtapositions, as well as the overwhelming feeling of endings and the inevitability of change. I laughed; I cried. Liu’s influence is obvious in the variety and excellence of her students’ output, as well as their combined reach and longevity. Her advice resonates: “When the world feels too heavy, just look up to the sky,” which is in constant motion and ever changing.